Health status of rural Canadians – the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging

The health of people living in rural areas is attracting increasing attention. We will look at the health of people living in rural regions compared to people living in urban regions across Canada. We will also compare the health of people living in differing rural areas, and explore the factors that lead to poor health. The issues we will consider are depression, the ability to carry out day to day activities, and access to health and social services. To do this, we will use information from a large study of about 20,000 Canadians between the ages of 45 and 85. These people live across the country, and are similar to Canadians in general. They live in remote areas, rural areas, small towns and cities. Information on their health, their mood, and their health care are measured using validated tools. These results will be useful in planning preventive measures aimed at people living in rural Canada, and in planning the health care for people living in rural areas.

We looked at data from the CLSA to determine if there were differences in health in rural and urban areas of Canada. There were similar rates of impairment in day-to-day activities among those living in urban and rural areas. People living in rural areas had slightly lower rates of depressive symptoms and were more satisfied with their lives than those living in urban areas. Those living in urban areas had a lower Body Mass Index than those living in suburban, peri-urban and rural areas. Those living in rural areas had fewer physician contacts than those living in urban areas, but more use of emergency departments.